How do I write good introductions

Often people battle with introductions and conclusions. Here are some tips for writing introductions to technical blog articles.

The introduction should assume a technical audience, and that should be clear from the opening sentences. A common mistake is to write some much more generic opening sentences that try to include non-technical people (who would never read the rest of the article) too.

Here are some tips for before writing the introduction:

• Define the audience in some detail. Perhaps think of a specific colleague or friend if you know someone who falls in the target audience. Perhaps it is broad, so think of a couple of people, then.
• Think about the problems your readers face (e.g. too many available architecture choices).
• Think about what the costs of these problems are (e.g. time spent deciding, or cost of making the wrong choice).

In the first one or two sentences, without necessarily mentioning the group of people you're writing for, make it clear who they are based on vocabulary. Make the reader feel like they are part of the group this article was written for. Even better, imply that you are part of this group or that you understand their problems. The goal is to make the reader feel like they are in the right place. I like to create a sense of stability or positivity in this opening.

Then, introduce the problem you're solving, and focus on the cost (to the reader) of not solving it. Finally, after the reader is convinced that they are in the right place and that the problem is worth solving, introduce the solution you're offering.

Some related advice from Larry McEnerney focused on academic writing, but broadly applicable to technical writing too.